Alli Stelling

Favorite memory competing in sports: Beating Pennridge to make it to the state playoff game in water polo.

Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: During my first week of practice as a freshman, I swam into one of the only girls who knew how to play water polo (it was the team’s first year) and gave her a concussion.

Music on mobile device: Country

Future plans: Go to college (not sure where yet) and major in nursing and hopefully play club water polo

Words to live by: Hakuna Matata

One goal before turning 30: Visit every continent

One thing people don't know about me: I'm addicted to dark chocolate

By Craig Ostroff

Alli Stelling doesn’t approach athletics with dreams of rewriting the Upper Dublin swimming record books. She’s not out to be the top-scoring water polo player in the district.

Quite simply, Stelling just loves being a part of the team. And her attitude and her ever-present smile display that at all times.

“Swim practices can be really stressful and tough,” Stelling said. “Sometimes you need to do something to lighten the mood, give people something to look forward to. It’s important to make it a little fun and not take things too seriously.

“I think I’ve always been that way. Between sets, I like to talk to people or I sing to whatever music is playing. I like to enjoy it and have fun and make the most of it ... of course, sometimes my coaches aren’t too happy about it.”

Actually, they’re more than willing to accept the occasional distraction if it means having someone with Stelling’s demeanor on their respective teams.

“The best thing about Alli is she comes out with this great attitude,” said Cardinals’ swim coach Pat Redican, before adding with a chuckle, “She’s a funny kid … sometimes she doesn’t need to be funny for as long as she’s funny, but she is.

“It can be tough in swim practice, you spend most of your time training with your face in the water, but it’s those moments hanging on the wall or stretching, she brings that lightness and fun to it. We have a long season, and it really helps to have a personality like Alli’s on the team.”

Of course, Stelling brings much more to Upper Dublin athletics than a positive attitude and a sunny disposition. Her work ethic and skills have earned her a spot as a captain on the Cardinals’ water polo team. It’s an honor she does not take lightly, especially considering the route she took to her senior campaign. After playing goalkeeper as a freshman (where she earned the nickname “Stonewall Stelling”), Stelling spent the spring of her sophomore year on the soccer pitch for Upper Dublin, before returning to the water polo team as a junior.

With a returning goalie in place, Stelling transitioned to defense, stepping back onto a team that would advance to the state tournament. But instead of getting lost in a new position among a talented and confident group, Stelling’s hard work and dramatic improvement made her an example for her teammates. She and her coach hope that she can continue to influence the younger teammates by the example she sets both in practice and in games.

“Being named a captain, it really meant a lot, I was really excited,” Stelling said. “I only played in ninth grade as a goalie, then skipped a year and played my junior year. It’s a big honor to be named one of the captains.”

UD water polo coach Chris Ianni has no doubt she has what it takes to be the leader that the squad needs her to be.

“Alli has a really admirable work ethic,” Ianni said. “She’s a great role model to her teammates, she makes sure there’s an atmosphere for everyone to have fun, but at the same time, she knows how to raise the bar, to elevate her level of play and the play of everyone around her.

“Alli might not be the strongest swimmer out there, plus she’s maybe 5-2 or 5-3, so she’s shorter than most girls she’s going up against. That said, she plays so tough in the water, she plays with grit and passion and you can tell how much she enjoys it and how much she’s improved over the years. It’s been pretty awesome to see her efforts and to see her improve and to see the impact she’s made and passes on to underclassmen.”

Having played water polo as a freshman, in the team’s first year of existence, Stelling definitely noticed a difference in the squad’s confidence and intensity when she returned last season. But she jumped headlong into her new role on defense and began to learn what she needed to do … and what she needed to stop doing … in order to become a strong defender.

“One of most challenging things for me was that a goalkeeper can use two hands to catch the ball, but when you’re in the field, you can only use one,” Stelling said. “So I kept trying to hold the ball with two hands. I had to break that habit.”

And while playing defense in water polo is anything but easy, Stelling’s size presented additional problems with which she’d need to contend, particularly when going up against attackers with longer reaches.

“It can be easier for players on the other team to spin me,” she said. “My arms are shorter, so when I put my arm out, I can’t get as much separation. So I have to remember to keep hands up, I can’t reach around them as much, and I have to try to get high out of the water to try to get the ball.

“The hardest thing to learn was keeping my hips up so don’t get spun, I used to drop them a lot and get spun. But I think I’ve gotten a lot better at that.”

That may be an understatement. Despite her relatively short time on defense, Stelling’s improvements and outstanding play in the pool have ensured that the nickname she earned as a freshman still applies.

“Alli is a lights-out defensive player, she takes on people twice her size and can contain them and keep them from going to goal,” Ianni said. “She’s smart, she knows how to maneuver, how to keep herself in good position. She’s forced a bunch of turnovers and she’s got (more than) 65 steals so far.”

Her efforts will be crucial if she hopes to achieve her goal for this season – to see Upper Dublin advance farther than last year and win at least one game in the PIAA State Championship Tournament.

And come the winter season, Stelling will step back onto the starting blocks as a valuable contributor – and a much-needed lighthearted presence – on a team that takes swimming very, very seriously and always sets district- and state-level goals.

“When Alli came out as a freshman, she was probably a little intimidated – a lot of our athletes are full-time swimmers, and Alli came in not having the experience that a good number of her classmates had,” Redican said. “But she plugged away, she embraced her role on the team, and she’s the kid I can always count on to get in there and get those fourth- or fifth-place points in the race.”

It wasn’t difficult for Stelling to find her place on the Cardinals’ swim team. She gravitated toward one of the less popular events – the 100 fly – and is thrilled just to be able to help out where she can.

“Doing the 100 fly was kind of accidental,” Stelling said. “During time trials I guess I did much better in my fly than any other event, so they started putting me in it. Fly practices are rough, but I like it now … I mean, I don’t love the practices, but I love the event now.

“I only did summer swimming until high school, so I really was just happy with anything I was able to do for my team. I know the team needs me to get the depth points. We have a ton of really fast girls, and I’m happy when they win and I’m excited when I get those depth points, too.”

When she’s not in the water or preparing for a race, it’s always easy to find Stelling. Just listen for the loudest voice.

“I definitely love to cheer and I’m always trying to encourage the other girls to come and cheer with me,” she said. “It keeps you involved and motivated, it’s fun, and just watching your teammates do well and get their best times is amazing.”

Stelling works just as hard in the classroom as she does in the pool. She’s got three AP and one Honors course this year and is taking two science classes. Mix all the schoolwork and homework with practices, water polo games, and swim meets, and it can make for a lot of work and a lot of stress, especially for someone who admittedly has had issues in the past with her time management skills.

“That’s probably my biggest struggle,” said Stelling, who is also a member of the general assembly of the Student Government Association. “I tend to get home and, ‘Oh, I deserve a break.’ And I’ll go on my phone for a little too long, get distracted for a little too long. And I like to procrastinate, so that’s not a good combination. I’m usually up pretty late. Until this year, I was not good at time management, but I think I’m getting better at it.”

Stelling also has a passion for working with children with special needs. She participates in Upper Dublin TOPSoccer, teaching soccer skills and strategies to children with special needs. And her senior culminating project will be coordinating and running a Water Wings program, teaching swim lessons to children with special needs.

“I started with TOPSoccer my freshman year and I just loved it, all the kids are so sweet and hard-working, I look forward to doing it every week,” she said. “Water Wings is my senior culminating project, which is supposed to be something to help the community or school. Me and a couple friends are running the program. But we also have to arrange for pool space, find the kids, find volunteers. It’s going to be a lot of work, but I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The oldest of four siblings, Stelling is still narrowing down her list of college choices, but she plans on studying nursing, a decision greatly influenced by her mother’s bout with cancer and watching those who helped her.

“My mom is doing great,” Stelling said. “She was diagnosed my freshman year, and she finished treatment during my sophomore year. My teams were always really supportive, they’d bring us food, they wrote cards—it was really nice. And when I saw what the nurses would do to help, I knew that I wanted to be able to help others the way they helped us and helped my mom.”

And while Stelling has always brought a more lighthearted approach to her athletic pursuits, her mother’s battle with cancer helped solidify her outlook on athletics, and life in general.

“My parents used to drill it into us since I was young, but I never really understood until my mom was diagnosed,” Stelling said. “We’re so lucky to have the opportunities we have. Don’t take those moments for granted. There’s so much worse that could happen to you than losing a game or having a bad race.”

It’s a perspective that Stelling hopes to pass on to teammates.

“After I graduate, I hope my teammates remember me as hard-working, but also as someone who was fun and happy and positive,” she said.

That seems to be pretty likely. After all, that’s exactly how Stelling’s coaches see her.

“We’ve got kids on the team who have the advantages of having that natural talent and size,” Redican said of the Cards’ swim team. “Alli may not be the fastest swimmer, and may not be the tallest swimmer, but every girl on this team can look over and see her plugging away every practice, every set. And she pops up after a set and is smiling 99 percent of the time. And that makes a difference. That’s what you love as a coach, a kid who is going to push herself every day, with no expectations other than being part of the team, and loving every minute of it.”

“Coming into this year, when you graduate a lot of important and really skilled people, other kids have to step up and rise to the challenge, and that’s Alli to a T,” Ianni said. “She rises to a challenge and is determined to succeed. She’s made huge jumps forward this year. If ever I talk to underclassmen, I just tell them to look at Alli and see what she’s doing and learn from her. She works hard and is always improving, but she also knows how to joke and make people laugh, and she genuinely cares for her teammates and for the success of the team. As a coach, you can’t ask for more than that.”